Origami
by Fluffymausi-chan
Summary: Six years after the war, life might be peaceful but also stressful for the avatar and his companion. Can Aang lighten up the mood? Taang with a tiny bit of Zutara.


_Hey there everyone. I could not help myself and had to write another OS for the Taang-couple.^^_**  
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_After watching the legend of Korra with the similarities Tenzin/Lin and Aang/Toph, I got all excited to write short drabbles for my favourite pairing. There is a little Zutara too.  
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_I hope there are only a few mistakes and that you enjoy it.  
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_Have fun :)_**  
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_Your FMC  
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**Disclaimer**: _Let's face it, if I owned Avatar, I would have make sure that Taang and Zutara would have happened!__  
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**Origami**

The sun was already setting and with its disappearance the cold was coming. But that didn't bother her. She was still sitting at the exact same spot while her toes were digging in the dirt. Her brows were furrowed in high concentration. She didn't react when featherlike steps came towards her. Fast!

"Hey Toph!"

"WAHHH!"

Startled was not the right description. No. Panicked and terrified would fit better. Nearly falling off the cliff, she got hold of the rock cliff in the last minute. Gasping she stood up and turned towards a now paling Avatar, with a scared lemur on his shoulder.

"TWINKLE TOES!"

Her scream sent shivers down his spine and he thought he saw his funeral in a vision. Gulping down a big lump in his throat he made a step back, but was suddenly in between two earth walls which were nearly crushing him. Momo had disappeared from one moment to another.

_Good friend_, Aang thought grumpy and with a fearful glance towards the sky. Was this his end?

A pebble was thrown hard against his forehead. Grunting in pain he opened his eyes to look in the angry face of his earthbending teacher. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest and her sightless eyes were narrowed.

"What the hell were you thinking sneaking up on me like that? You better have an excuse for this, or else the Watertribe will have his Avatar sooner than expected! Got that?"

Aang had been so distracted by her appearance in the sunset that he nearly missed her question with the threatening undertone. That would have been fatal. She raised one eyebrow when she heard him searching with one free hand in his pockets.

"What are you doing?"

Her tone was still irritated but he could hear the curiosity in her voice. She made no attempt to hide it though. Aang was nervous and he hoped that she would not detect it through the walls which still held him in place.

"Are you nervous?"

Okay so much for that. He glared at the blind young woman, before throwing something in front of her feet. She was not surprised, maybe she had felt it already coming. He didn't answer her and tried to fight against the blush on his cheeks even though when she couldn't see it.

"What is this?"

Toph picked the little packet up to study it with her fingers, while closing her eyes. Meanwhile Aang was trying to free himself from the two walls, and succeed finally by using a deep breath of air. Stretching his sore muscles he came to her and scratched the back of his head while taking a seat next to the silent earthbender.

"Sorry for not calling you sooner, but I saw you sitting there and thought you were just …ehm… you know sunbathing…?"

She gave him a look.

"Seriously Twinkle Toes. You sure it was me you were seeing because I am not into those kinds of things."

A deep sight escaped his lips. He knew very well that she was not sunbathing, but studying the landscape with her feet, which always required a lot of concentration and silence. But he could not possibly tell her that he had been too excited to see her and show her what he got.

Six years had passed after the war and the world was starting to get used to the peace. Even though there were still a lot of things to take care of like rebellions and firenationsoldiers who still would not accept that the war was over, peace was finally able to take place. That was the reason he and Toph were travelling around the world. Aang had to make his presence in every part of the world and attend every important meeting. It would have made him sick and tired if he was to make this all alone but he wasn't. He had her, the best earthbender in the world and the first metalbender. He had Toph, who chose to help and travel with him instead of returning home. Sure she and Aang wrote her parents regularly of her adventures, but she had no intention of returning soon and he was grateful for it.

When he had been twelve he had hoped that Katara would stay with him but she couldn't. Her mission had been done and even if she wanted to, she could not abandon her tribe and deep down he had known that they could never be together, especially after Zuko showed officially how much he cared for the waterbender. It hurt that Aang could not be the one for Katara because of his never endless journeys, but that was fate. No one said that it would be nice and pretty. He knew as much.

Showing his sombre thoughts away, he gently took the little packet from her hands to rip the wrapping paper off, while making sure not to break the object inside. He knew that she would get easily irritated with wrapping paper and didn't want her to ruin the present in the process of getting rid of the colorful paper.

"What is it?"

Oh yeah, Toph was not only curious but impatient too. He sighed again but not because he was angry or annoyed, no he knew her too well to ignore her impatient words. His grey eyes mustered the young woman in front of him. He had grown a lot and was taller than the earthbender which didn't prevent her from showing him, that she was pretty strong too. Nothing has changed, or maybe….just a little thing.

A small smile graced his lips while taking one of her hands and placing something light in her palm. She was silent and weighed the little thing in her hand while tracing it with her other hand. Both remained silent and while Toph was trying to figure out what the object was, Aang was sitting silently next to her while mustering her in the last sunrays. Her hair was longer and still in her originally bun, but a few strands of her hang loose around her pale face with those beautiful pale green eyes.

She sighed upset and a little annoying. Maybe today was not the right time to strain her nerves, not after scaring the hell out of her a few minutes ago. He laughed nervously while taking her hand in his own.

"Twinkles?" There it was again, the threatening undertone, but he ignored it.

His finger guided her fingers along the edges of the small thing. She didn't say anything and let him guide her. Aang studied her face a few times before resuming his task of helping her. He tried to calm his heart down which pounded painfully against his rips, that he was afraid that she would become deaf because of his heartbeat. Every time he touched her fingers a pleasant sensation shot through his system, but he knew better than to tell her. Closing his eyes, he took her scent and her body heat in, while never stopping his action. The short moment of peace didn't last long through. Suddenly her sightless eyes widened and a large smirk was forming on her lips. Once again he was caught in her spell, without even noticing it.

"A flower?"

She lifted her head, even though it was not changing the fact that her eyes would never meet his grey depths. Her smile made his whole body tingle with pride and joy, because it had been a long time since she had shown so much enjoyment in anything. Their life had been stressful and although it was only Aang who had to attend the meetings and the whole stuff, she went along with it to. For him.

"Yes, a flower."

Aang placed her other hand over the delicate object. It was a paper water lily, like the ones he had spotted a few days ago. It had taken him a lot of time to manage the origami but in the end it was worth it. Toph was still tracing the folded paper art with interest and curiosity.

"It's out of paper?"

Now she sounded a little surprised.

"Did you make it?"

There was no point in lying to this living lie-detector. He would stick to the truth.

"Yes, to say thank you."

She seemed taken a little bit off guard because her pale eyes widened slightly.

"Thank you for what? You know you were the one who defeat the crazy Fire Lord? You were the one who brought peace to the world and don't get me started on all the other things that you achieved. Sure I taught you earthbending but that was my part in the whole story."

She smiled again never letting go off the delicate art in her hands.

He shook his head and gazed in the distance to search for the right words.

"No not for all those things."

Aang faced her with one of his trademark smiles.

"Thank you for staying with me."

There he had said it. Finally. Shocked she faced the young Avatar and forgot to hide the light blush on her cheeks with her bangs. Instead she sat there quietly and didn't turn away. She seemed to think about something really hard. Aang felt his heart going into overdrive. Maybe he had been to straight forward but he had acted like an earthbender, he had taken his problems head one. Just like she had always told him.

His thoughts were interrupted when a fist collided with his shoulder. Wincing in pain he looked towards the young woman, who was smirking like always even though this time it seemed happier and more honest.

"Care to teach me how to do this paper-thing?"

Aang smiled.

"Sure."

It were those moments that showed him that he was not alone and that he would never be, because Origami-flowers never wither.

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_A/N: I hope you liked it. :)_

_Feel free to give me advice or other ideas for Zutara and Taang- Oneshots.  
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_Seeya.  
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_Your FMC  
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